LETTER: Is UConn A School Bully?

July 23, 2013

The news today is filled with stories about bullying at this school or that school. But what if the school itself is a bully?

No one wants to think of the University of Connecticut as a bully. We love UConn sports and want the best for all our students, but if you lived in Mansfield and got even marginally involved in the local politics, you'd quickly become aware of the control that UConn has on our town.

Property taxes go up because UConn wants this built and we share the costs, but then we're not allowed any of the tax revenue, for up to seven years in one case. They remove the nicer homes from our tax rolls to use as incentives for professors. When they're done with something, like a waste station, they put it on our bill.

When enough signatures were obtained to force the town budget to referendum, and then the Mansfield budget was defeated, the town council laughed and raised our taxes anyway in order to pursue UConn's agenda. It goes on and on.